sexy silk lingerie

The making of silk fabrics is said by the Chinese to date back to the third millennium B.C. This lustrous natural fibre is traditionally obtained from the cocoon spun by the larva of the Chinese silkworm moth Bombyx mori.

Chinese legend tells the story of how silk was discovered by Xiling Shi, an empress, who plucked a cocoon from a mulberry tree in her garden. This cocoon accidentally fell into her cup of tea and she watched as a strong thread unraveled. The Chinese however, kept the silk production a closely guarded secret for many centuries and developed a silk industry along the trade route known as the Silk Road.

The silk worm feeds on mulberry leaves and forms it's silk cocoon by secreting two fine streams of liquid from it's silk glands. This liquid hardens into a thread as it comes into contact with the air as the larva moves it's head in a figure of eight pattern. The worm spins it's cocoon from a single continuous thread which, when unraveled would be over a mile in length.

It is at this stage that the silk process passes into human hands. The cocoons are boiled to release the sticky substance called sericin. One single thread would be too fine to spin and so several threads are wound together to produce the delicate but deceptively strong fibre from which silk cloth is woven.

CARE OF YOUR SILK GARMENTS

 Pure silk is a natural fibre and if treated correctly will give many years of pleasure.

Any small slubs in the fabric are not defects but are characteristic of this naturally produced cloth and help give this beautiful fabric it's lustre and sheen, which cannot be matched by any manmade fibres.

Hand washing is recommended Do not use detergent but opt for delicate hand wash soap flakes, rinse and hang to dry; try not to wring the wet garment as this helps to avoid unnecessary creasing. Use a cool iron on the inside of a still damp garment.

 Machine washing, bleaching or tumble drying are not recommended.

Each of our items comes complete with integral wash care label and separate care instructions swing tag.

TYPES OF SILK

Most of the silk yarns we use today are produced by "cultivated" silkworms grown in a controlled environment. The worms are fed a diet of mulberry leaves and increase their body size 10,000 times in their short life span. Once the cocoon is spun and before the worm hatches through the silk into a moth, the cocoon is soaked in hot water then unravelled, producing filaments that can be up to a mile long in size.

The raw silk is then processed to remove the sericin - the natural "gum" that protects the fibres and causes them to stick to each other as the cocoon was spun.

Silk is a protein fibre, similar to wool or to human hair. It is only natural for silks to have some irregularities -- sometimes called "slubs". This is the nature of the 100% silk fabric.

Once the silk has been processed it is then woven or knitted into a variety of fabrics, each with its own individual characteristic. The weight of silk is shown as "mm" (pronounced "mommy") and varies within the different types of silk. The following list gives a brief description of the types of silk often used for luxury lingerie and nightwear..

Silk Chiffon
Often the lightest weight and most diaphanous of the silks, Chiffon is also the most transparent (see-through). Used for flowing fluted knickers, French Knickers, Baby dolls and sheer sexy suspender belts and G Strings..

China or Habuati Silk
China silk is a lightweight, sheer, plain-weave fabric. It's sometimes referred to as habutai, or habotai, It is one of the less expensive and more commonly available silk fabrics and more often used for lightweight scarves. Habotai can often be found as light as 5 mm and as heavy as 12 mm.

Crepe de Chine
Crepe de chine is a lightweight fabric made by twisting some fibres clockwise and others anti clockwise. The twisted fibres are then woven in a plain-weave fabric, but it's the twisted fibres, not the weave, that gives crepe its distinctive "ridged" look and feel rather than a shiny lustre. Both sides of the fabric look and feel the same. Often used for flowing nightwear garments.

Charmeuse or crepe backed silk satin
Generally speaking, when we think of pure silk, this is the fabric we have in mind. The back of the fabric is a flattened crepe while the front is a shimmering luxurious satin weave.

Charmeuse has even more drape than crepe de chine and works It is the most common type of silk used for nightwear and lingerie. Most of the garment found in our eBay store will be made using this quality of pure silk.